What 'MacKeeper' is and why you should avoid it

Literally every time I work in the computer store, we'll get a customer whose Mac is plagued with problems they don't understand: Their Mac is acting slow. It crashes. And more. And in more cases than not, we find that they've installed a program called MacKeeper. Removing MacKeeper fixes the problem. So what is MacKeeper and why should you avoid it? Read on for details

MacKeeper was originally developed by a company called Zeobit and was sold a couple of years ago to another firm called Kromtech. The software purports to be a suite of more than a dozen individual utilities that are actually supposed to improve the performance and stability of your Mac — antivirus software, optimization software, junk removal tools and more.

MacKeeper uses scare ads that appear as "pop-under" ads on web sites, telling people to clean their Macs. The pop-under business is the first thing I really don't like about MacKeeper. Quite frankly, I think it's a real bottom-feeder technique and a really low-class way to do business, and it tells me that they're not concerned with what people think of them.

MacKeeper's developers have been called out in the past for hosting fake web sites promoting their products and also for "sockpuppeting" phony user reviews. When they've been called out on this behavior in the past, they've conveniently blamed it on overly zealous affiliate marketers, saying it's not them, it's someone else. I'd posit that if your affiliate marketing strategy is attracting lying douchebags and scum, then you're the problem as much as they are.

But the real problems with MacKeeper that I can see is that it provides questionable value to most users, can destabilize an otherwise stable Mac, and embeds itself so thoroughly into the operating system that removing it is an uncomfortable and weird process.

Removing a Mac app should never be more involved than dragging it into the Trash and emptying the Trash, and perhaps entering an administrative password if it's a legit app you've downloaded from the Mac App Store. MacKeeper tries to get in your way, makes you verify that you don't want it, and even prompts you to explain why. That's not cool. That's certainly not something supported by Apple's own interface guidelines for legitimate app developers.

What's more, "uninstalling" MacKeeper doesn't get rid of all of it — you'll find various traces of it in your Mac's system library folder, and they take a bit to get rid of (just search for anything with zeobit or MacKeeper in the name, and you'll turn up files).

I've seen multitudes of forum posts and comments on web sites calling MacKeeper a virus or a malware package. The pathetic thing is that it isn't. It's just extremely persistent, poorly developed software whose developer tries very hard to keep you using the software and engages in really shady tactics to get you to use it in the first place.

I don't really understand all the whys of MacKeeper destabilizing an operating system, but I can tell you unequivocally that when we pull it from customers' Macs, they don't have those same problems anymore.

The folks who sell this software aren't thieves, for whatever it's worth. My own father tried it out on his Mac, paid for it, and immediately regretted it. After he finally extricated MacKeeper from his Mac, he requested a refund — and after a time got one, fortunately. So they will refund you if you feel like you got ripped off. (And no, he didn't come to my store to have it fixed — he's a bit more self-sufficient.)

But it'd be better if you didn't feel ripped off to begin with.

So if you've ever seen an ad for MacKeeper — even if it's here on iMore — and thought about giving it a try, my recommendation is not to. And if you do and run into problems, don't say I didn't warn you.

Reader comments

What 'MacKeeper' is and why you should avoid it

Do NOT use their services. They are a RIP OFF. Unfortunately I fell for their trap. My previously working fine Mac book Pro computer shutdown and a message flashed up saying I had a virus that could be fixed by Mackeeper. Reality was there was never a problem to start with. After liasing with an online person at Mackeeper, they took my money and continued to send me 'you have viruses messages' requiring more money to fix the problem. When I called to cancel the service and get a refund as advertised on their website they sent an email saying the service is cancelled and I won't get a refund. This mistake cost me $140. Don't make my mistake if you get the same 'you have a virus' message from Mackeeper.

"billnewyorkcityrelief" is a plant from MacKeeper. They hire many people to do this. If you'll note, "billnewyorkcityrelief" signed up two years ago, posted what MacKeeper told him to, and then.... no more posts. You'll see this on every forum across the Internet.

I've used Mackeeper effectively on 2 computers with no problems, using 10.6.8 and Yosemite for years. Apple is lucky to have such an "avalanche" mentality with a low tipping point. Once something takes off it seems to go "viral" (pun intended).

I've used Mackeeper on 4 different computers and never had a single issue. In fact the only reason I bought it was because my Mac had picked up a horrible Trojan (4 or 5 years ago) that was impossible to defeat or ignore. I don't remember the name of it, but I called their customer support line and they spent a half hour on the phone helping me install their software, their fix, and testing my computer. It was a wonderful experience and I've been sold on it ever since. However, I do notice their crazy aggressive advertising. I too get the feeling that they are becoming more profit driven than quality driven. It was in the news today that their company just got hacked by a white hat on their own IT team who was able to get RIDICULOUSLY EASY access to 13 million customer accounts, passwords and license information like serial numbers, etc. They said they were using dated and hackable hashtag encryption. They were called to the mat for their issues and claimed of course that they just so happened to be in the middle of upgrading their encryption and the server port issue had been corrected. At least they admitted it. Never had an issue with them yet, but I do think that some of their services are exaggerated and their purported help desk fix-it team "included" in the fee actually has an additional subscription charge of $100. Everything I use performed as expected as far as I can tell. As of tonight I have the IP address, location and I'm hoping for a photo of my partner's laptop which was stolen this afternoon. But I first called their customer service number to ask if they could activate the anti-theft service, and the woman I got there was huffing and puffing and moaning into the phone clearly irritated with her job, her life and her flip-chart informed knowledge of how their software worked. She insisted that what I was asking didn't even make sense. She kept insisting that we had to log into the software from the computer itself... "but it was stolen right... surely you must have a way?" Nope. Doesn't matter. Can't do it any other way except on another computer and they won't do it for you. She rudely asked if I had the receipt number for our software license. I was in my car. Lordy. I actually resolved to get rid of them at that moment. But I want trojan/virus protection and some good utilities to make up for it. I'll look into the suggestions. Thanks.

I have written/emailed them many times, explaining how poor their product must be if its marketing policy is spamming websites and computers.

I have never installed it personally but those I know who have have said they'd wished they never had done so...

As the article says, on a mac getting software removed should be as simple as dragging it to the trash and maybe giving password permission. One thing I have liked with macs is that -mostly- software removal has always been easy; compare it with most Microsoft platforms where software removal is either via the built in Program Removal app or the software's own uninstall function (which is often a joke, because if they make a program that buggy that you want it removed, how good is their removal program going to be)?)...which always leaves crud all over the registry, and folders all over the place.

Even the *ads* for this product hurt my Mac's performance: if my Firefox suddenly begins being plagued by beachballs and painfully slow page loads, 90% of the time it's because MacKeeper's slimy ad network found a way to open a pop-under. Whatever those ads are doing consumes a ridiculous amount of CPU, and if I were slightly more cynical, I might conclude that this entirely intentional: your Mac grinds to a halt, and just as you're getting cranky about it, hey, here's an ad for a miracle product that promises to make it work again!

Oh, who am I kidding. When it comes to this product, I'm *exactly* that cynical.

I've had a client who's mentioned using this software, unfortunately paying them money to do something, and conveniently their website has been altered, which neither us nor our client has done.. Do you think they'd try and use the Mac to access their website?

I wanted to tell you about my problem with them. I had an older version, from 4-5 years ago. I got an offer to upgrade, so I looked into it. The site said that the subscription was $5.95 for 24 months, so I thought, OK. The prior version was pretty good, so I figured this one would be better. Well, I filled out the information, and I got to a point when it said that it was a subscription and I understood the total was $142.80 (which, based on the site's information, seemed right at $5.95 for 24 months.) Well, the next thing I know they have charged my card $142.80, so I called seeking to cancel the purchase. I got to their customer service, which I was told was in the Ukraine, and some "supervisor" tells me I have to fill out a form and request a refund, and that it will take 5-10 days to get my money back. Now, I am really ticked and tell her that I am not filling out a form, that I just want to reverse the sale because they misrepresented what they were going to charge me. Ultimately, after wrangling with me for a while, she ends up filling out the form and requesting a refund for me. And I told her that they misrepresented what they were going to charge me and that they committed a fraud. So, she ends up telling me that I should have paid closer attention to what I was being charged (which of course, I should have!) So, I asked to speak to her supervisor and she tells me that she is the supervisor. So, yes, I was stupid and didn't pay close enough attention. But, they are still crooks and I wouldn't buy anything from them ever again under any circumstances! Hopefully, my stupidity will help others from making the same mistake!

OK, I read this post when it came out and had no problems, but appreciated the heads up.

However, today my son texted me about problems with his Mac and he even called a number from the MacKeeper et al. adware on his Mac (we had reinstalled OS X yesterday thinking it would fix the slow system etc.). He thought he was talking to Apple and was about to buy some security software for $99! (Teenagers! Some people's kids, eh?!)

I stopped him right away, but he's going to cancel his credit card because he did give that to the scumbag right before he told him not to charge it.

Anyway, we searched for MacKeeper and other crap and deleted it, but it kept popping up in his browser. So I called Apple and the guy recommended (da, da, da, dah!)

AdWareMedic!

In addition to my search and destroy mission, it fixed the rest of his problems and I was happy to donate $20 to the cause!

Should've done this kind of research before my dad went ahead and downloaded it. This is so silly, now we have to go through the process of getting rid of it.
The thing is, is that he didn't have it before and notified him that his computer is slow. Who are the technicians "working" on my dads problem and what are they capable of doing on his mac? can they see anything on his mac?

I tried Mackeeper and whenever I tried cleaning up my computer, it offers me to buy the product and I don't have the money. I use Tuneupmymac and CleanMyMac 2 to clear free space and to run my computer faster. I'm doing whatever it takes to have it for more than a year. Apple and PC computer companies keep surprising me with new products of their computers, phones and other technology and I think about the future on what might happen after I get to be in my late 20's and early 30's. Sometimes I even wished that I would've been middle aged or elderly because then I wouldn't have to worry about the new changes in technology anymore. Tuneupmymac and CleanMyMac 2 are the cheapest apps and they're better than Mackeeper.

first, to those who have ads pop up all the time, especially from going to compromising websites, try AdwareMedic. it's donation. believe me, it got rid of everything -- 10 + ads popping up all at once -- close one ad and more pop up. second, i have had Mackeeper for several years. i have read comments like the above about not installing it and to stay away from it. having these comments be more present in date, it's finally having its weight in my decision making of uninstalling it. my cursor spins sometimes that it just insufferable. other times, it's fine. maybe it is Mackeeper. any comments would be welcomed.

My son fell for their scare tactic pop-up ads, (he's a newbie with a new Christmas MBP). I'm having to clean that crap out of his otherwise fabulous computer. Cost him too, though i'm working on that! Great article, which I'll show him later today!

I just verified another VERY BAD THING about MacKeeper that I thought I remembered seeing in the release notes for SoftRAID (which is a RAID disk driver that I use and highly recommend):

"... was the result of MacKeeper modifying the code in the SoftRAID application and driver. This version of SoftRAID detects these modifications and ..."

I'm certain this was tested and verified. So, assuming this is true, going so far as to modify other applications and drivers (not flag or delete, but MODIFY) pushes MacKeeper WAY over the edge of really bad software (even if this was intended to help in some way that, for the life of me, I can't see).

I guess I have been fortunate in my experience, I have had MacKeeper for probably 2 1/2 years or so. It has always performed well on my system, and I like the combination of features and how intuitive it is to use. I am a little freaked out by this report, and yes, the marketing is a little slimey. Given how hard it is (apparently) to remove, I think I'll just leave it on my machine for now.

Bang-on Peter! I've never fallen for the MacKeeper ploy, but one of my daughters did. It took me over an hour to get it completely off her MacBook Pro. Something MacKeeper did was wipe off all her remembered passwords in Safari and continually notified her of "Software Offers" in the Notification Center. Somebody needs to DDOS those clowns every day for a year!

I see lots of the dodgy ads for mackeeper, and the shady marketing and adware rentention tactics make it feel like i'm being asked to download at best a legit app that has been hijacked with malicious code. I've always been on the fence as to wether mackeeper was an adware/virus or just a piece of crap, thanks for clearing that up!

Thanks Peter, for trying to make your opinion sound like fact. How about this...Apple never knocked MacKeeper, until they couldn't buy it from Zeobit. Control, control, control. Apple is all about control.

That article also points out a whole other issue, which is Adware, and talks about the solution called Adware Medic. To date, around half of all Macs I work on have one or more of these adware extensions.

Thanks again, Peter. The more people know about the jerks at MacKeeper, the fewer people will get sucked in.

Coming from Windows world I've learned the hard way not to trust these system optimization programs. Which is why when I switched to Macs and I started seeing these ads for this thing and what it does,I knew to stay as far away from it as I could. I'll just stick with the tools provided by Apple to keep my Macs in good working order.

"Removing a Mac app should never be more involved than dragging it into the Trash and emptying the Trash, and perhaps entering an administrative password if it's a legit app you've downloaded from the Mac App Store."

Whether that is how it *should* be, and what it is... they're two different things.

OS X does not, by default, remove your application information found in

~/Library/{Application Support, Caches, Preferences}

It remains there, so if you reinstall the same app later, all your settings and license info remains on your system. They don't get removed when you simply drag an icon from /Applications to the Trash, unless you're using a third-party app like Hazel, or AppCleaner.

I was dumb enough to install it a couple years ago (got it from a bundle). One thing these apps will do is offer to clear system caches. Since caches are designed to make the system faster, it's not usually a good idea to delete them

A general tip for uninstalling an application that doesn't have an uninstaller is to look in /Library/ApplicationSupport and ~/Library/ApplicationSupport (*Don't* delete the entire library folder, and *don't* delete the entire ApplicationSupport folder). Unfortunately, they're tricky to get to because ~/Library is hidden by default.*. Sometimes large files are left behind in folders within ApplicationSupport usually named for the app or developer. Be careful and if in doubt, don't delete anything.

* Hidden because I guess people were deleting the entire folder, unaware it had an important function. Google "show library folder os x" to learn how to access it. Use caution and always have valid backups.

I'm a bit disappointed in the way this article soft-pedals this issue. The people behind this app are clearly using deceptive practices, the product itself is shite (I've also had to clean up more than my share of computers that were "infected" by it), yet we are told it isn't really nefarious and it's advertised on this very site?

I say call a spade a spade. This software is not a virus, but I believe it falls pretty square under the definition of a Trojan. The bottom line is that it's harmful software that deceives you into installing it and tries to avoid being uninstalled. It does nothing for the end user and is focussed completely on making money for the proprietors only.

The real question for me is why iMore allows this kind of stuff to be advertised on the site? It's clearly a tactic by the nefarious owners of the software to give their product some appeal by implying that you friendly folks agree with it's sale. iMore is acting like a lure here and is not blameless when it comes to the grief this software can inflict.

I nearly burst out laughing today (or in tears, depending on your disposition) while I was browsing iMore. At one point I saw not one, not two, not three, not four, but SEVEN freaking MacKeeper ads on a single page. I couldn't believe it. They nearly had covered every single ad spot on iMore... (there were one or two ad spots for other products/services) The horrors you see when you're not using an ad-blocker... (I recently upgraded to El Capitan and haven't had a chance to install my Safari extensions yet)

As for iMore itself, I only want the best for them and us, the readers. The way I see it, they should definitely take a long and hard look at the advertising companies they're partnering with. Maybe replace the more scummy ones with others that are more selective about the ads they produce and services/products they promote. Of course, this will most likely result in lower revenues for iMore. So here's the real question: is iMore getting too large and becoming indistinguishable from evil in the process? Perhaps it's time to realign the values of the site with those of the readers?

Thx for the lovely link - a warning would have been nice as it immediately started downloading something - which I got into my trash BEFORE it finished. When I immediately emptied - it contained over 830 items!

I think the first year they showed up, they brought a bevy of young women in skin-tight bodyform dresses - classic "booth babes". That sort of thing may have played well at other trade shows, but it was definitely not well received at Macworld Expo. Know your audience? As if.

Hey Peter, I uninstalled Mac Keeper and my computer is already running faster. Any recommendations for a program to clean the mac? One of the things I liked about Mac Keeper was cleaning out all the clutter or unnecessary files, etc. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks for the post!

My advice would be to not use one that "automatically" does anything. If you uninstall a lot of apps and don't know where to look to delete its auxiliary files, get a cleaner that you run manually, that will tell you what it's going to remove before it does it.

But personally, I've never used one, and having been using Macs since 1989. I just delete the apps, the preference file in ~/Library/Preferences, and look for a folder for that app in /Library/Application Support

I'm not sure, but follow these instructions Peter suggested in his post and you'll find out. If you find any files with the word mackeeper or zeobit, just trash them.

"What's more, "uninstalling" MacKeeper doesn't get rid of all of it — you'll find various traces of it in your Mac's system library folder, and they take a bit to get rid of (just search for anything with zeobit or MacKeeper in the name, and you'll turn up files)."

I use AppCleaner.. AppCleaner is an older app, but does a very good job of searching down and letting you remove apps like MacKeeper that like to 'weave' their way into your system.

Google does much of the same thing.. You install Chrome and suddenly it's an imbedded service tangled throughout your system. Just dropping it into the trash can doesn't get rid of it.. it's update services, etc stay. yuck...

I use Clean my Mac 2 to remove unwanted apps, does a decent job of finding related folders too. I also hate the scare tactics MacKeeper uses, luckily I have moved my parents onto iPads as there main computer so don't have these issues anymore.